14. TRUTH AND SINCERITY.

Truth and sincerity have all the advantages of appearance, and many more. If the show of any thing be good for any thing, I am sure the reality is better; for why does any man dissemble and seem to be that which he is not, but because he thinks it good to have such a quality as he pretends to?

Now the best way in the world, for a man to seem to be any thing, is really to be what he would seem to be. Besides, it is many times as troublesome to make good the pretence of a good quality, as to have it;. and if a man have it not, it is ten to one but he is discovered to want it, and then all his pains and labour to seem to have it is lost.

Truth is always consistent with itself, and needs nothing to help it out: it is always near at hand, and sits upon our lips, and is ready to drop out before we are aware; whereas a lie is troublesome, and sets a man's invention upon the rack, and one trick needs a great many more to make it good. Spectator.

15. VIRTUE.

Virtue is of intrinsic value and good desert, and of indispensable obligation. It is the foundation of honour and esteem, and the source of all beauty, order, and happiness in nature.

Beauty and wit will die, learning will vanish away, and all the arts of life be soon forgot; but virtue will remain for ever. It procures us the approbation and love of all wise and good beings, and renders them our allies and friends.

But what is of unspeakably greater consequence is, it makes God our friend, unites our minds to his, and engages his Almighty power in our defence.

Such is the importance of virtue. Of what consequence therefore is it that we practise it! If you are wise, then study virtue, and contemn every thing that can come in competition with it.

Remember that nothing else deserves one anxious thought or wish. Remember, that this alone is honour, glory, wealth, and happiness. Secure this, and you_secure every thing; lose this, and all is lost.

Price

POETRY.

16. VICE.-Pope.

Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen.
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

17. CONTENTMENT.-Ibid.

Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense,
Lie in three words, health, peace, and competence;
But health consists in temperance alone,
And peace, O Virtue! peace is all thy own.

18. THIRST OF FAME.-Young.

Say, what are men, who grasp at praise sublime,
But bubbles on the rapid stream of time,
That rise and fall, that swell and are no more,
Born and forgot, ten thousand in an hour.

19. THE THAMES.-Denham.
O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
My great example, as it is my theme!

Tho' deep, yet clear; tho' gentle, yet not dull;
Strong without rage-without o'erflowing, full.

20. BRITAIN.—Waller.

Our little world, the image of the great,
Like that, amidst the boundless ocean set,
Of her own growth hath all that nature craves;
And all that's rare as tribute from the waves.

21. THE GOOD MAN'S PICTURE.—Goldsmith.
As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form,
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm,
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread
Eternal sunshine settles on its head.

22. THE MESSIAH.-Pope.

The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay,
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away!
But fix'd his word; his saving pow'r remains;
Thy realm for ever lasts, thy own Messiah reigns.

23. HYMN TO PROVIDENCE.-Addison. The Lord my pasture shall prepare, And feed me with a shepherd's care: His presence shall my wants supply, And guard me with a watchful eye; My noonday walks he shall attend, And all my midnight hours defend. When in the sultry glebe I faint, Or on the thirsty mountains pant, To fertile vales and dewy meads My weary, wand'ring steps he leads; Where peaceful rivers, soft and slow, Amid the verdant landscape flow. Tho' in the paths of death I tread, With gloomy horrors overspread, My steadfast heart shall fear no ill, For thou, O Lord, art with me still. Thy friendly crook shall give me aid, And guide me through the darkest shade. Tho' in a bare and rugged way, Through devious, lonely wilds I stray, Thy bounty shall my pains beguile; The barren wilderness shall smile, With sudden greens and herbage crown'd, And streams shall murmur all around.

24. From 24th PSALM.-Pitt.

Far as the world can stretch its bounds,
The Lord is king of all;

His wondrous pow'r extends around
The circuit of this ball.

Who shall ascend his holy hill,

And see Jehovah there!

Who from his sacred shrine shall breathe

The sacrifice of pray'r?

He only, whose unsullied soul

Fair virtue's path has trod;

Who with clean hands and heart regards

His neighbour and his God.

Lift up your stately heads, ye doors,

With hasty rev'rence rise;

Ye everlasting doors, who guard
The passes of the skies.

Swift from your golden hinges leap,
Your barriers roll away!

Now throw your blazing portals wide,
And burst the gates of day.

For see-the King of Glory comes,
Along th' ethereal road;

The Cherubs through your folds shall bear
The triumphs of their God.

25. From 19th PSALM.-Addison.

The spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heav'ns, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim.
Th' unwearied sun from day to day
Does his Creator's pow'r display,
And publishes to ev'ry land
The work of an Almighty hand.
Soon as the ev'ning shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the list'ning earth
Repeats the story of her birth;

While all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole,
What, though in solemn silence all
Move round this dark terrestrial ball;
What tho' nor real voice nor sound
Amid their radiant orbs be found!
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,
For ever singing as they shine,
"The hand that made us is divine,"

26. RELIGION NOT ADVERSE TO PLEASURE.-Couper.
Religion does not censure or exclude
Unnumber'd pleasures harmlessly pursued:
To study, culture, and with artful toil
To meliorate and tame the stubborn soil;
To give dissimilar, yet fruitful lands,
The grain, or herb, or plant that each demands;
To cherish virtue in an humble state,

And share the joys your bounty may create;
To mark the matchless workings of the power
That shuts within its seed the future flower;
Bids these in excellence of form excel,
In colour these, and those delight the smell;
Sends nature forth, the daughter of the skies,
To dance on earth and charm all human eyes;
To teach the canvas innocent deceit,
Or lay the landscape on the snowy sheet-
These, these are arts pursued without a crime,
That leave no stain upon the wing of time.

27. HYMN ON GRATITUDE.-Addison.
When all thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys;
Transported with the view, I'm lost

In wonder, love, and praise!

Oh, how shall words with equal warmth

The gratitude declare

That glows within my ravish'd heart?
But thou canst read it there.

Thy providence my life sustain'd,
And all my wants redrest,
When in the silent womb I lay,
And hung upon the breast.

To all my weak complaints and cries
Thy mercy lent an ear,

Ere yet my feeble thoughts had learnt
To form themselves in pray'r.